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Chapter 1024 Life Essence

A ravine called the Red Border.

Crimson lichen stained the ravine\'s walls, and a meandering of blood-red water flowed through its depths. Perilous stone bridges span the chasm, providing the only means of crossing. It\'s the border of the capital city of the Vampire Kingdom.

Based on Calidora\'s description, this is the first line of defense for the capital city.

Looking at the place, Rex nodded in inspiration.

Dargena City, as fortified as it was, only has the Humming Damned Forest as the first line of defense. It was stationed very close to the city itself, unlike this ravine. In order to make the city impenetrable, he may need to manipulate the natural terrain on its edges to something like this ravine.

Knowing the System, there should be something that could make that happen.

After all, Dargena City was made in a blink of an eye.

Rex pledged that after confronting the Executor, his foremost priority would be precisely that. He realized his naivety in assuming Daregna City\'s location was secure, it wasn\'t as secure as he had initially believed.

Upon reaching halfway through the Red Border, Rex noticed two stone structures.

Both were facing each other.

Judging from its layout, it was akin to a huge entrance leading to nothing. He pointed at them, wanting to know more about the place as he might gain more inspiration to fortify Dargena City by learning from the Vampires.

"Those two structures, what are they for?" He asked curiously.

Calidora shifted her eyes to the stone structures.

Looking at them, she answered, "It\'s a place for the watchers, a golem made of blood. Most of the time, it would remain completely still like a statue and act as a sentry, but it could also come to life and become a soldier in case of emergency"

"Since the population is relocated, the golems were also relocated" She explained further.

Gaining the answer renders Rex into contemplation.

Hmm... Currently, Dargena city\'s sentries are the Dark Elves according to the deal I made with them, who were placed across the Humming Damned Forest. But as reliable as they could be, an inanimate entity like the golem might be better.

Exactly as he predicted, he gained more inspiration from asking about the structures.

It tempted him to make a golem of his own.

After all, there was an incident not too long ago where the Dark Elves\' sentries fell victim to the Witch\'s pets. Not only were they outmatched completely, but they were also vulnerable to potent mind spells and soul attacks.

On the other hand, the golems are completely immune to those kinds of attacks.

Surely, it would be way better to have golems as sentries.

"Oh—We\'re here" Calidora muttered and stopped, looking down at the blood-red river.

Rex\'s gaze descended, revealing a forest nestled beside the river, where his heightened senses already detected several mutated animals. He was surprised by the abundance, which means that the inhabitants of this woodland were very strong.

Had not it been for the First Breath, most of them would be at the sixth or seventh.

Swoosh!

Not giving a heads-up, Calidora jumped down.

Currently, the sun was still up, its radiance was glowing bright in the sky.

Due to that, and coupled with the fact that Calidora was only protected by the black ring on her index finger, she wanted to quickly get into the forest and be protected by its canopy. It was a behavior that remains puzzling for Rex.

Since she was protected, the sunlight shouldn\'t matter.

But even then, Rex assumed that it was her biological needs as a Vampire to like the dark.

Even he, himself has that kind of urge as a Werewolf.

Putting those thoughts in the back of his mind, with the same motion, he also jumped down.

Jumping from the stone bridge to the forest was quite a deep fall, gravity pulled him hard as he penetrated branches and trees that got into his path, and landed gracefully on the land, scanning the vicinity with sharp glances.

Rex found himself inside the forest, a dimly lit forest.

Only a speck of sunlight was able to penetrate through the thick roof of the forest.

However, even a normal person could see fine in this place.

Near his landing spot, he could see Calidora crouching behind a tree. Her eyes were trained forward in a watchful gaze, and she seemed to be hiding from something. Approaching her, Rex looked in the direction where she was looking at.

When he got close, Caliodra suddenly pulled him down, forcing him to crouch beside her.

"What is it? Why are we hiding?" Rex asked with a raised brow.

Considering that the two of them were very strong—not threatened by any of the mutated animals in this forest, there was no need for them to hide. Even if several mutated animals prowl and ambush them, none of those animals would be able to hurt them.

Naturally, Rex found it weird for them to hide like this.

"Stop asking questions and follow my lead, I\'m trying to teach you something here"

"Okay..."

Following Calidora\'s lead, he looked to his front.

Beside the water puddle, a mutated animal sipped cautiously, its vigilant eyes scanning the surroundings for potential threats. In a forest fraught with perpetual dangers, every mutated animal in this forest had to maintain a constant state of alertness.

Always poised to defend against any looming danger.

For all they learned from experience in life, one moment of weakness would spill their death.

Looking at the mutated animal, Rex knitted his eyebrows together.

I\'ve never seen the mutation an animal had so format but obvious at the same time.

Rex was surprised to see its appearance.

It\'s a creature with the majestic stripes of a tiger and the dorsal fin of an ancient fist prowled silently. A muscled yet graceful creature, the size of a rhino with gleaming amber eyes which held the weight of a prehistoric world, and a lizard-like tail.

Never has he ever seen something remotely close to it.

Keeping her gaze firm on the mutated tiger, Calidora leaned to him and whispered.

"You are going to take that creature\'s Life Essence," She stated. "But you can\'t use your raw strength, at least not yet. I want you to learn to take Life Essence normally before forcing it out. It would help you get accustomed to it"

"One wrong move and you might lose a portion of your Life Essence" She added seriously.

Upon hearing this, Rex nodded his head.

He stares at the mutated tiger seriously as the consequences are quite severe.

Even though he doesn\'t know exactly what would happen to him if he lost his Life Essence, he could tell that it\'s going to be bad. For now, he would be a real student, listening to what Calidora said word for word.

Calidora lets him grasp the bad side of failing first.

When he understood, she continued, "In order to take its Life Essence, you can do it in two ways. You can coax the target to willingly give their Life Essence to you—a hazardous path, or you can take it by surprise. I\'ll teach you the spell, and I want you to take it by surprise"

"Okay, I\'m ready. I\'ll do exactly as you said" Rex nodded in understanding.

Nodding her head, Calidora taught him the simple, yet complex spell.

A moment later.

Stealthily, akin to a predatory hunter, Rex edged his way to the side, concealing his aura to the point of being untraceable. He moved carefully, making sure that no sound was made that might alert the mutated tiger that was still drinking from the pond.

Rex has an immensely superior physique, so this should be easy to do.

Flickering on his fingertips were his black lightning.

Commanding the unnatural control he had over the lightning element, he manifested a small bolt on the opposite of his hiding spot and directed it to the side. It streaked past the forest foliage, making a loud rustling sound that immediately captured the attention of the mutated tiger.

Growl...

Baring its fangs, the mutated tiger becomes alert, looking at the bushes.

However, what comes out of it is a mutated hound.

It was a mutated hound that was comparably way weaker than the mutated tiger.

Upon spotting the mutated tiger, one of the apex inside this forest, the mutated hound—as strong as it was quivered in apparent fear, sensing its undeniable inferiority. Meanwhile, the mutated tiger, recognizing its dominance, eased its vigilance and approached the trembling hound.

Evidently, it smacked its lips, savoring the meal of the day that had come its way.

Subconsciously, the mutated hound knew that it would die today.

No matter how much it could try to escape, its accelerating speed was not comparable to the mutated tiger. At most, it could only take two or three steps to escape before the apex, the mutated tiger catches up.

Backing away slowly, it started to whimper, hoping for a chance to escape.

However, its eyes saw an even fiercer predator appear.

A predator that leaped from the bushes.

Rex used this opportunity to come out of his hiding spot and instantly made a very fast dash toward the mutated tiger. He manages to reach the mutated tiger without even realizing that his hand is about to reach it.

In quick succession, Rex grabbed the mutated tiger\'s head with both hands.

Forced to face Rex, the mutated tiger\'s eyes widened.

"Drain touch..."

Swish!

Almost instantly, the mutated tiger felt a chilling sensation being injected by Rex\'s hands, jolting its mind awake as it tried to break free. A reddish light could be seen flowing from Rex\'s fingers into the mutated tiger\'s skin.

Caught off guard, Rex started to harvest his very first Life Essence.

Under his gaze, the mutated tiger\'s muscles and skin were slowly becoming decrepit.

It was as if it was becoming older and older by the second.

Rex\'s plan for his first absorption of Life Essence was a success thanks to his superiority.

Earlier, Calidora taught him the spell which she called a neutral spell. 

Based on her explanation, the neutral spell is a spell that could work through the use of any energy in the whole entire world. Thus, it could be used by anyone who possesses energy, basically, anyone aside from civilians.

Moreover, she also explained that taking by surprise meant the target shouldn\'t be alert.

If the target is alert, it would be too hard to take their Life Essence.

Due to that very reason, Rex made a simple plan of luring another weaker mutated animal into the fray. He used the black lighting earlier to make a rustling sound near the mutated hound, acting as if there was a pray in the bushes.

Following the rustling sound, it was met with the mutated tiger instead of prey.

Rex did this as he knew that there was no better way to make the mutated tiger not alert aside from seeing a helpless food coming its way. Its hunting mode would be activated, and thus, it wouldn\'t be as alert to danger.

Using the opportune moment he created, Rex came in for the strike.

So this is what happens when Life Essence is drained from a living being.

Growl...!

Failing to break free from Rex\'s iron grip, the mutated tiger started to whimper weakly.

It was almost pitiful to see that it was rendered weak.

Since it was nothing more than a mutated animal, Rex felt bad for it as death through having its Life Essence drained was quite gnarly. He could feel his cursed source feeding at the Life Essence he gained while the mutated tiger was drained until skin and bones.

Eventually, it was not moving anymore, leaving behind only its thick and hard skeleton.

Rex pulled away and looked at his hands weirdly.

Calidora is right. No wonder her cursed power climbed very fast. I can feel a huge amount of increase in my cursed energy just from taking the mutated tiger\'s Life Essence. If it kept going at this pace, reaching the sixth epiphany wouldn\'t take long at all.